--- title: Das ist der Weg zum Frieden, die Feinde wollen es so! Darum zeichne Kriegsanleihe! (That Is the Way to Peace, the Enemies Want It So! Therefore Subscribe to the War Loan!) url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/weg-zum-frieden-1917/ description: An armoured, spiked fist fills the frame above the words 'That is the way to peace, the enemies want it so!' 'Peace' is offered as the goal with no terms… section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [![Das ist der Weg zum Frieden, die Feinde wollen es so! Darum zeichne Kriegsanleihe! (That Is the Way to Peace, the Enemies Want It So! Therefore Subscribe to the War Loan!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/weg-zum-frieden-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/weg-zum-frieden-1917.jpg) # Das ist der Weg zum Frieden, die Feinde wollen es so! Darum zeichne Kriegsanleihe! (That Is the Way to Peace, the Enemies Want It So! Therefore Subscribe to the War Loan!) An armoured, spiked fist fills the frame above the words 'That is the way to peace, the enemies want it so!' 'Peace' is offered as the goal with no terms attached, and 'the enemies want it so' places the choice of continued war entirely on the other side, leaving the subscriber's own government out of the account. - **Date:** 1917 - **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi) - **Made by:** Imperial German war-loan campaign; artist Lucian Bernhard - **Region:** [Western and Central Europe](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=western-central-europe) - **Country:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=german-empire) - **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster) - **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state) - **Regime:** [German Empire](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=german-empire) - **Leader:** [Wilhelm II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=wilhelm-ii) - **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public) - **Purpose:** [Fundraise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=fundraise) - **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Economy and finance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=economy-finance) - **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i) - **Techniques:** [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Scapegoating](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/scapegoating/) - **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are - **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2004665841/), retrieved September 27, 2026 - **Rights:** Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931) Bernhard, Lucian, artist. 1914. Library of Congress, LC-USZC4-11524. ## Text on the object Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` Das ift der Weg zum Frieden — die Feinde wollen es fo! Darum zeichne Kriegsanleihe! [illegible — one or two lines of very small printer's imprint at the bottom edge of the poster] ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` That is the way to peace — the enemies want it so! Therefore subscribe to the war loan! [illegible] ``` Blackletter uses the historical long s (ſ) in 'ift' (ist) and 'fo' (so); transcribed here as modern 's'. The small printer's credit line at the foot of the poster (comparable to the 'Entw./Druck' lines on other Bernhard/Erler war-loan posters in this gallery) is too faint and low-resolution in this scan to read. [← So hilft dein Geld Dir kämpfen! In U-Boote verwandelt, hält es Dir feindliche Granaten vom Leib! (This Is How Your Money Helps You Fight! Turned into U-boats, It Keeps Enemy Shells off Your Body!)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/u-boote-kriegsanleihe-1917/) [Заём свободы. Война до победы (Liberty Loan. War until Victory) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/zaem-svobody-voina-do-pobedy-1917/) ## Using the same techniques - [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (0313 · Glittering generalities) - [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Trois Tetes sous l'meme bonnet (three heads under the same cap)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/trois-tetes-sous-le-meme-bonnet-1789/) (1789 · Plain folks, Glittering generalities) - [Proclamation by the Queen in Council, to the Princes, Chiefs, and People of India (printed sheet, Allahabad, 1 November 1858)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/queens-proclamation-to-the-people-of-india-1858/) (Nov 1, 1858 · Glittering generalities, Scapegoating) - [The Great Battle of Ansong Ford: The Valor of Captain Matsuzaki](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ansong-ford-toshikata-1894/) (1894 · Glittering generalities) - ['The Congress Cross or "Swastik"' (Pickings from the Hindi Punch, Bombay, February 1896)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hindi-punch-congress-swastik-1896/) (Feb 1896 · Transfer, Glittering generalities) - [Un combate en el río Zapote (A Fight on the Zapote River), Blanco y Negro](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/un-combate-en-el-rio-zapote-1898/) (Jul 9, 1898 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)